VH1 Reality Star Arrested Over Child Support

(CN) – Federal prosecutors are hauling a star of VH1’s “Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta” into court today on charges of failing to pay $1 million in child support. Steven Jordan aka Stevie J has been a recurring cast member of “Love & Hip-Hop” since its premier in 2012. Police arrested the 40-year-old producer, formerly with the iconic Sean “Diddy” Combs label Bad Boy Entertainment, on Monday night at his home in Atlanta, according to a statement from prosecutors. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Jordan would appear before a federal judge in Atlanta on Tuesday “for failing to pay over $1 million in child support obligations with respect to two children.” “By choosing to use the money [earned from reality TV] for himself, rather than to pay his child support obligations, Jordan not only violated court orders, but committed a federal crime for which he will now be held responsible,” Bharara ssaid in a statement. A Manhattan family court judge ordered Jordan in 1999 to pay $6,608 a month in child support for his two children. That figure increased to $8,557 per month in 2011, according to the statement from prosecutors. During the time he racked up $1.1 million in child-support delinquency, “Jordan was generating substantial income,” the statement continues. “Love & Hip-Hop” allegedly paid Jordan approximately $27,000 per month beginning in October 2012. “From January 2013 through August 2013, Jordan received at least $193,000 for his work on the reality television show,” according to the statement from prosecutors. Rather than volunteering a “single” child-support payment during that time, however, the musician instead “had a total of just $18,566 garnished and applied towards his child support obligations,” prosecutors say. A company that pays royalties to musicians allegedly paid Jordan $105,000 from 2003 through 2013, the complaint against Jordan alleges. A charge of failure to pay child support carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.